The Nightingale
by XxWatermelonSlicesxX
Summary: I'm sure someone has done this before. A slow burn Romeo and Juliet with second generation Batman characters. Lucy, Harley Quinn's daughter by the Joker, becomes the sidekick of Gotham's Batman: Damian Wayne. These are the adventures of Batman and the Nightingale.
1. When I Was Younger

Lucy's favorite person was her Aunt Harley. She had no doubt that there was no one prettier or funnier.

"Why are the cars wearing tutus?" She grinned earnestly at Lucy while stroking her hair. They were sitting in the dirty floor of the living room in front of an old TV set. The floor was littered with the toys Lucy kept at her Aunt Harley's house.

"So they can feel pretty while their dancing. Duh. I thought you would know that!" Lucy responded as if it was the most obvious thing. She twirled the red hummer in the air, creating a magnificent arc as she lowered it back to the ground to crash into a shiny green Cadillac.

"I don't know everything."

"Of course you do! Plus, I've told you before!"

"Oh right. And the baby doll's name is?"

"You know that!"

"Well remind me, I love your stories." Harley said with a slight smile. Lucy loved that about Harley, she was almost always smiling, and she listened to every single thing she said, and never thought any of it was weird.

Lucy grabbed the doll from beside the cradle where a yellow truck was sleeping soundly under a Sleeping Beauty baby blanket. The doll was more scary than endearing with its partially melted face and chewed arm.

"This is Baby Bottle Rocket!" Lucy said with intense pride as she handed Harley the doll "He's like Superman! He's an alien from another planet with super powers and stuff. He got in an accident where his firework super powers back fired and he hurt his own face! But he's like Superman, so he's okay. OH! And his arm he got from fighting off Cerberus at the gates of Hell!"

"Wow, impressive, I'm sure he'd get along with the Justice League."

"NUH-UH! He works outside the law!" Lucy said dramatically squinting and deepening her voice to further a point.

On the television set goofy, loud laughter was heard and Lucy looked up to see the smiling face of a clown. The large red smile, the white face, the abnormal laugh, and dark joyful eyes disturbed her on an instinctive level. She let out a squeal and took cover in the cushions of the couch. " _Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry_ " Lucy thought in her head as she pressed herself into the familiar scratchy fabric of the old, smelly couch.

"Lucy, sweetie, you know it's just a clown." Harley said softly running over to the girl and petting her back soothingly.

"Clowns are scary!"

"They're supposed to make you happy and laugh. Sometimes people even like them, because they're scary."

"Who decided that? That's stupid!"

"People like to laugh. People like to be scared even more. It's human nature. Human nature is like…just how people act."

Lucy turned to Harley, tiny tears in her eyes.

"How do you know that?"

"They told me in school silly! They don't call me a doctor for nothing!" Harley winked at the small girl.

"Nobody calls you a doctor." Lucy replied with a pout.

"Well…they did a long time ago." Harley said softly to the point Lucy had to strain to hear. She was still smiling, but there was something off about it. Tears rolled down Lucy's face.

"Do you like clowns?" Lucy asked naively. Maybe if Harley didn't like clowns either she wouldn't feel so silly for being scared of them. And if Harley liked them, then that meant maybe they weren't that scary. After all in Kindergarten the other kids talked for ages about how cool they were when the circus was in town.

There was something unspeakably sad in Aunt Harley eyes as she pet Lucy's hair.

"I love them."

A large wild puppy dog and Pam came into the small apartment with a loud door slam. The sound of gun shots followed, and Lucy immediately put her hands over her ears while Pam swore loudly.

"You live in shit hole, Harley. Seriously, your sister would be pissed if she knew exactly where you lived." Pam said brusquely. People outside were yelling and a woman was screaming shrilly. The large dog immediately ran to Lucy, licking her face and almost standing on top of the girl. Lucy let out a squeal and giggled, and very well couldn't be afraid then.

"Ivy…"Harley said unhappily looking from Lucy to Pam.

"Yeah, sorry, though I think Lucy knows by this point not to repeat anything that comes out of my mouth, right girlie?" Pam smirked at Lucy. While Lucy was sure that Harley was the prettiest woman in the world, Pam was a close second, even if her skin was a funny color. Aunt Laura did tell her not to judge based on skin color, and it was a silly thing to care about anyway. Especially when Pam always smelled like flowers and had hair like a fire truck and Lucy knew for a fact that was pretty awesome.

"Right, you have a potty mouth! Never say any of those damn words."

"Lucy!" Harley gasped.

Lucy laughed hysterically, with what her Aunt Laura called her trademark mischief smile. It was a full face one that stretched from ear to ear, creating little dimples, and lit up her eyes. Pam frowned slightly as Harley simply shook her head.

"Sorry Aunt Harley! I just wanted to see the look on your face!" she exclaimed as she squeezed her purple bear in the throes of her laughing fit. The dog, excited by Lucy's laughter, tried to jump on top of her, making her laugh only harder. It hurt her sides, and suddenly she didn't feel so much like laughing. The yelling outside got louder and there was door slamming and another gun shot. Her laughter turned into sobbing and she hugged her bear even more tightly.

Harley eyes looked dangerous suddenly as she stood up and went to the back room.

"Harley…" Pam said cautiously.

"This will only take a moment." Harley said cheerfully as she quickly walked out the front door with a large paddle in her hands and the wild dog joining her with a vicious growl, yapping loudly.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I'M GOING TO FUCKING MAKE YOU." Lucy heard Harley. She went to look out the window, when Pam quickly grabbed her.

"Come on dear, help me water the plants."

"They're pretty much dead." Lucy responded stubbornly and tried to pull away. When she first got to the apartment she had run to check them only to see them very droopy and sad. Harley told her she lacked Lucy's magic touch with them.

"I don't believe that. They just need some time and attention." Pam insisted trying to pull a reluctant Lucy in the direction of the kitchen.

"See these flowers are fine; just water them a little bit." Pam continued handing her a small watering pale. The pink flowers were brown at the tips of the petals and the leaves were all yellow and brown.

Lucy squinted at Pam suspiciously.

"I'm not dumb, it's going to take more than a little water."

Pam simply put her hand on her hip and gave Lucy a look.

"Oh, Lucy, you doubting you're green thumb? You know the plants can hear you when you talk like that. You can't just give up on them. They need encouragement! They need to believe that you believe they'll get better."

Lucy let out a heavy sigh and began to tilt her tiny pink water pail over the dry soil of the plant. The instant the water touched the dirt the plant came to life with the leaves and stem turning proud emerald green and the petals becoming the brightest shade of pink Lucy had ever seen. It even stood taller with its petals outspread to the world. Lucy let out a squeak and stepped back looking at Pam with alarm in her eyes.

"I told you." Pam winked with a smirk.

"DID YOU SEE THAT?! Oh my gosh Pam that was so AWESOME!" Lucy exclaimed jumping up and down energetically, her long pig tails bouncing everywhere with her.

"I told you, you can't doubt your power." Pam laughed softly. It was weird; Lucy was never sure what to think of Pam. She was sure she was nice, since she was really pretty and was always sweet to her. But sometimes she would sound really mean on the phone or get an attitude with Aunt Harley. And even worse she heard her call her Aunt Laura and Uncle Scott a bitch more than once. She especially didn't like Uncle Scott calling him a "pig in a uniform." Lucy wasn't really sure what that meant.

Lucy reached out to gingerly touch the pink petal of the flower and frowned deeply.

"What's the matter, Lucy? I thought you loved pink."

"Oh, I love pink. It's my favorite." Lucy said, but softly and with not quite as much pep as she usually had when she talked about her favorite things.

"Then why are you frowning at the flower? You might hurt its feelings." Pam insisted making Lucy even more confused as to what kind of person she was. Nobody bad could care this much about flowers.

"It's just while they are very pretty and I love them very, very much they really aren't my favorite."

"Well what's your favorite flower?"

"Do you think we could have a rose bush?" Lucy asked earnestly yet shyly as she already knew the answer. " _No, nowhere to put it, don't be such a silly goose Lucy._ " she thought to herself mimicking a grown up voice.

"Roses are really nice, but I don't think Harley has any place for one in this tiny apartment. And I don't think this neighborhood is the happiest environment for them. You wouldn't want them to get scared like you do." Pam persuaded the small girl.

"I don't get scared!" Lucy said indignantly, though a red blush at the bold faced lie was creeping across her cheeks. She crossed her arms and pouted, avoiding eye contact with her.

"You wanna know a secret?" Pam said after a long pause.

"What?"

"We all get scared. Especially when we grow up, there's just more things to be afraid of."

"….that doesn't sound very fun."

"But there are more things to do for fun. We are adults after all." Pam grinned, "And adults have the best fun."

Lucy thought about that long and hard and knew that had to be true. The adult world held so many secrets, and that meant surprises, and surprises tended to be pretty fun. And if adults were the type of people to scare themselves for fun, then that meant being scared was really just another game.

"You look like your mother when you think like that. You have such a serious, thoughtful face." Pam said with proud affection only for eyes to widen immediately when she realized the flood gate she opened.

"Do I really? What about my dad? Was my mommy pretty? Aunt Laura says she wanted me, but life got in the way, what does that mean? Some of my classmates don't have daddies but I have a daddy right?" Lucy began to babble energetically her whole body practically vibrating.

"Don't worry about it so much, girlie. You got plenty of time to learn all about your parents. And until then you have plenty of people looking out for you and doing the important things for them." Pam said crouching to look Lucy in the eye, "Including me and let me tell you another secret: nobody fucks with me. And that includes my girls."

Pam's eyes were serious and a little dangerous. Even though she didn't like to admit it she had seen the same look in her Aunt Harley's eyes whenever it got too loud with the fighting and gun shots or Uncle Scott would grab her a little too rough. A shudder went up her spine and she realized that while Pam was one of the coolest people in the world to her, she was also really scary. And yet Lucy didn't blink or look away, she just met the serious stare with her own.

"Maybe I can just wait for some boy to bring me roses." Lucy said with a mischievous smirk, finally breaking the stare to focus on watering some peace lilies that came to life as miraculously as her pink flowers had. She really did have a green thumb!

"I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Even roses can have their tricks." Pam said, and Lucy was sure she was just talking in riddles now. Adult tended to do that a lot, and it was awfully annoying.

Lucy looked back towards the window to see something large and black swoop down through the hole in the curtains. Curiosity and impulse overtook her and she bolted for the door, grabbing Baby Bottle Rocket for protection. She was closing the door behind her before she could even hear Pam protest.

"Seems like you cleaned things up here, Harley." A stoic gravelly voice boomed from downstairs. It was soft and loud at the same time, and it kind of reminded Lucy of whenever Uncle Scott got mad at her except even calmer.

Lucy looked down to see a tall, dark looming creature towering her Aunt Harley with several people napping between them. Well, not quite all of them looked like they were napping; some of them were sitting upright and moaning though it was too dark to really see why they were moaning.

"I'm getting my exercise in! How else am I supposed to stay in shape?" Aunt Harley said with a casual laugh.

"It's called a gym membership, harlot."

An older boy dropped out of nowhere right beside Harley, though if he shocked Aunt Harley she certainly didn't seem to act like it. Lucy on the other hand nearly jumped clean out of her skin. He was dressed in brighter colors than the dark, angry man. She ran down the steps silently as possible to get a closer look. The boy was pretty grown up with long lanky limbs starting to bulk out and he was almost the same height as Aunt Harley. He had a sneer on his face and arrogant posture that the dark man lacked.

"OH!" Lucy exclaimed loudly smacking herself in the forehead. She suddenly knew who these people were, she had seen clips on the TV before and Uncle Scott would talk about them with Aunt Laura a lot.

"What the hell is with the kid?" The colorful boy asked incredulously looking at Harley.

"KID? SAYS THE BOY HERO!" Lucy snapped, deeply insulted by being underestimated by some big kid with an ego trip. She threw Baby Bottle Rocket hitting him square in the head.

"Ow! The fucking hell is your problem, brat?" The big kid rubbed his head in shock that a tiny girl in blonde pigtails could actually cause any degree of pain.

"You're the one giving my aunt an attitude you dumbass."

Harley quickly snatched up Lucy in her arms despite her protests and embarrassment.

"Kids, am I right?" Harley laughed nervously.

The dark man, Batman in the flesh, stared directly as Lucy. She fought the impulse to turn away, instead nervously waving at him while holding his gaze. His eyes widened in surprise for a brief second, and Lucy glanced all around trying to figure out what was so surprising.

"Your niece looks a lot like you." The Batman said softly, "She must have her father's eyes though."

Lucy felt a shudder go through her aunt.

"I wouldn't know. I never met him." Harley replied coldly as she set Lucy back down.

Robin walked over to Lucy and bent down to hand her doll back. She could see how shiny and dark his hair was, and his eyes were the brightest blue she'd ever seen. She quickly avoided eye contact and crossed her arms with a pout.

"Here…uh, this…thing is yours." Robin stumbled over his words his tone much humbler if awkward, "You really shouldn't be out here."

"I live here, I mean, I do sometimes. This is my Aunt's place and I can be out here if I want." Lucy responded as she took back the doll frowning a little bit at it, "Here, I think you need him more than I do. Maybe he can teach you to be a real hero."

Lucy's tone was thoughtful and civil, but she could help but giggle a little bit on the phrase "real hero".

"Oh really, smart ass?" Robin smirked with surprising good nature that made Lucy giggle even harder at her own cheekiness.

"Robin, we need to get moving. The police should be here soon, and Harley has done what was needed here." The Batman ordered, Robin's whole posture snapping from casual to military.

"Be good." Robin told her with a crooked smile before running off with the Batman into the night, the pair shooting and flying off with their grappling hooks in perfect synchronization. Lucy felt like she was in a dream as she watched the boy fly across the city with his silhouette framed by the moonlight.

"Lucy, sweetie, I told you to stay inside." Harley sighed looking from Lucy to the pile of napping people.

"Yeah but I saw Batman out the window and I had to see!" Lucy exclaimed, "So is he like your friend or something?"

"Yeah, or something, now don't tell Aunt Laura about this. We wouldn't want her to worry would we, Lucy?" Harley said with a wink and a smile. Lucy nodded in wild agreement.

"Come on, we better get back inside with Pam. Come here Scruffy, come here girl." Harley whistled loudly and the dog ran over gleefully. Lucy chose to ignore the dark red staining the edges of Scruffy's mouth.

"Hey, Aunt Harley can I ask you a question?"

"What's up?"

"What's a harlot?"


	2. Smells Like Teen Spirt

"What happened to my sweet girl?" Aunt Laura sighed wistfully as she reached a wrinkled hand to pet Lucy's hair. She ducked it and hurriedly took her place across from her at the table as she shoved a piece of toast in her mouth.

"She's the local freak at her high school and everything sucks, so fuck it." She retorted, bits of toast flying from her mouth as she spoke. She was too sleepy and grumpy to humor her Aunt Laura, even though she knew she probably deserved better. She dodged her Aunt's sad, tired eyes rather focusing on the condensation on her glass of orange juice like it was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen.

"Language, young lady. You know the rule." Uncle Scott said overlooking his newspaper to glare at her. He tapped the swear jar that sat at the middle of the table. Uncle Scott, on the other hand, could eat her dick as far as Lucy was concerned.

"Where do you think I learned it, asshole? You don't exactly have the cleanest mouth yourself. I guess you probably learned it from all those thugs and street trash right?" Lucy scowled as she took her chain billfold out of her pocket and flipped through it to grab a single. She wasn't going to get another one for "asshole" though, because as far as she was concerned it wasn't _that_ bad of a word. She'd give Uncle Scott the fact she probably shouldn't say fuck so brazenly. But again she was so damn tired, and the sun was too bright, and she wasn't sure she could dread school anymore that she did.

"I have spent my whole life with criminals, and I can't say I have learned anything from them. And I try to control my language. The swear jar isn't just for you. Believe it or not it's not always about you." Uncle Scott said emphasizing the word "criminals" like it was the most disgusting thing in the world. Just like the homosexuals and the terrorists. Lucy rolled her eyes as she could already feel a rant coming on. She could hardly stand listening to him talk some days, his tone was so fucking self-righteous.

"Please, like you spend any time with real criminals anyway. Your job is pretty much done for you these days by just one man. And he doesn't even have some asshole kid in tights to put in jeopardy, because somehow a brat is better at the job than most of Gotham City Polity. What use is a police captain these days? Especially in these lame ass suburbs you dragged us out to. " Lucy's words flew out of her mouth before she could process what she was saying.

"Lucy!" Aunt Laura admonished while looking at her with serious eyes and shaking her head. If her aunt could control her alone with her eyes, Lucy was sure she would. The forceful way she was looking at her got right under her skin. Her aunt's eyes were like a threateningly firm grip on the arm of an ill-behaved child in a grocery store.

"Oh, stop it Laura, whenever have you been able to control what I say? I barely do. You only try to control me, because he controls you." Lucy snapped stabbing at her sausage savagely. She wasn't sure what had gotten into her, but she too tired, too angry to pretend like they were a normal family having breakfast.

"THAT'S IT!" Uncle Scott stood up abruptly enough to unsettle the breakfast table and savagely threw the newspaper at Lucy.

"I am sick and tired of your shit Lucy! We took you in when your piece of shit mother got knocked up by her terrorist, master criminal boyfriend, and decided she was too crazy to accept her own shit and take care of you. And this is how you treat us with your smart mouth and shitty grades? YOU ARE AN UNGRATEFUL BITCH YOU KNOW THAT? You think you know everything don-" His face was bright red and the vein in his neck was bulging. Lucy could feel herself shutting down for the oncoming verbal beating, but as quickly as he arose he fell into his chair coughing. Once he caught his breath he reached in his worn, bathrobe pocket for a pack of cigarettes.

Lucy laughed coldly, her own rage bubbling to the surface.

"You can't feel sorry for yourself when you keep smoking and eating everything in the whole damn house. You aren't allowed to whine about how you're dying, when you don't do shit to help yourself. You're ungrateful, that you have a family and life that you'll flush away, because you can't control yourself." Lucy spat back as she stood up. She swallowed all the angry bitter words she still had in her, about how much she used to admire him all heroic in his dark blue uniform and shiny badge. Even if he always said nasty things about her Aunt Harley, she still loved him. Now she only saw him as the most pathetic, vile creature she'd ever seen. She wanted to tell him about how she'll never forgive him for moving them out to this stupid suburb away from all her friends, and Aunt Harley - the only person whoever understood her, and then refusing to tell Harley where they were. It was because of Uncle Scott she hadn't seen her in years. Suddenly, she felt hot tears stream down her face, and she swallowed the hardest words: she fucking hated him. There was a honking from out front, and Lucy wiped her tears hastily as she grabbed her book bag.

"Hey, don't walk away young lady! We're having a discussion. Lucy I'm s-" Uncle Scott started, but she had already stomped her way to the front door.

"I gotta go. Wouldn't want to be late for class." Lucy slipped out hurriedly, resisting the urge to slam the door. She slow slid to the ground sitting down with her back pressed against the door, and allowed herself to weep a little before she had to face Mina.

"Come on, bitch! I can see you!" Mina honked and called outside to Lucy from the window of the red Mustang. It was too old to be considered vogue and not nearly old enough to be vintage. It was still a Mustang though, which was sexy enough on its own, and Mina prided it as part of her identity ever since she turned sixteen last summer.

"Sorry, I kind of hate my family these days…as sad as that is to admit." Lucy sighed as she stepped into the car. She let out a deep breath trying to collect her nerves.

"Sweetie, every teen hates their parents. Normal ones anyway, I'd hate my parents too if they moved me from Gotham to Quaintsville, New Jersey. No, Daddy's the one who gets his own penthouse in Gotham where he can snort cocaine and fuck pretty people who aren't my mom in peace. Actually, scratch that, I kinda hate them already, and I admit I'm totally spoiled. No real reason to hate my parents compared to you. Anyway, I don't think you don't actually hate them. Not in your heart of hearts, or whatever. You always try to get along with your aunt at least. You're just too sweet of a little ball of sunsh—oh my god, are you sure you're okay?" Mina lifted her sunglasses and looked Lucy in the face for the first time since she got in the car. It was obvious she had been crying. Her eyeliner and mascara streamed down her face making an awful black mess.

"Oh, honey." She said empathetically and leaned over to hug Lucy. Despite herself, the tears resurfaced and she sobbed into Mina's shoulder. Mina smelled like her perfume, feminine and floral, and her long, manicured nails felt good stroking her hair. The screaming profanities of her uncle, his wretched cough, and her own cruel words were all echoing painfully in her head. Mina's affection made her heart swell with little butterflies fluttering in her stomach, and to her distress it made the tears come harder.

"Lucy, it's okay. It can't be that bad is it? Why are you sobbing like this? Did he call you something shitty again?" Mina murmured softly as she pulled away to try to clean the black mess on Lucy's face.

"I don't know. I guess it could have been worse. Him, I mean. But I was a total shit. Like I woke up in this 'fuck off' mood, and decided I wanted to make him feel as shitty as he makes me feel. Or at least I was too tired to really care about his feelings, and just said the first hurtful, awful thing my mind came up with. I look at him sometimes, and I barely recognize him from when I was a kid." Lucy sighed as she pitifully wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and murmured a quiet thank you when Mina fished her Kleenex out of the glove compartment.

"Lucy, you're like seventeen. He's the grown ass adult. Hasn't he totally taken out his bad mood on you before? So what you were mean to him at breakfast? He'll get over it. If you still feel that shitty later, you can always apologize." Mina sighed as she pulled out of the drive way. They were going to be late at this rate if they wanted to stop for coffee and maybe steal a cigarette.

"Right, and I'll show how sorry I am by sneaking out to go to a party with you in Gotham tonight." Lucy snorted. She got the feeling her Uncle Scott would just act like the incident didn't even happen. Maybe if he really felt guilty he'd do something nice like offer to pick up dinner from her favorite Chinese place, but he rarely actually apologized for the things he said. He wasn't going to change. And neither was she, at least not back into the dutiful child.

"I'm not sure I'd call it a party…you'll see. It's uh, like a club." Mina said her soft honey colored eyes darting nervously away from Lucy's questioning ones. She fumbled through her coat pocket looking for her lighter and cigarettes. She wasn't paying very close attention to the rode, she never did really, and Lucy had made the decision to just see Mina's driving as a free adrenaline rush.

"A club? I don't know Mina…I mean I know I agreed to be your partner in crime whenever you go to those big Gotham benefits your dad sometimes takes you to, but I'm not sure I would fit in with some sort of creepy, rich people club." Lucy's stomach did an uncomfortable flip thinking about being surrounded by debutantes in fancy designer clothes. She'd say something stupid, or something insulting, or something weird that made people give her _that look_.

"Oh, fuck no, Lucy. It's not one of those clubs. Please, you have to think I'm more fun than that. You'll finally get to meet Heath." Mina smiled brightly at her new beau's name. Mina must really like this guy, Lucy reflected, because most of the time when she talked about the guy she was seeing she sounded annoyed. Then again, those guys were usually picked out by her parents. Two kids dating is a good excuse to get together for brunch where business transactions may or may not (but definitely should) take place.

"Ah, I'll meet the infamous Heath. So is he like your boyfriend yet? Do you like like each other? You guys going steady?" Lucy teased her friend.

"Yes, totally. He gave me his class ring and everything," said Mina dryly shooting her friend a look out of the corner of her eye, "But I already explained this to you that we're not like that. We're not traditional. It's not a monogamous thing, but yeah we're getting pretty hot and heavy. He says I'm his favorite girl."

"Pfft, how serious can it be if he wants to fuck other girls? Sounds like he's getting his cake and eating it too if you ask me." Lucy scowled at the idea that her beautiful best friend was settling for being treated like anything less than the only girl he could want.

"Lucy, come on, don't be that way. Why are you assuming it's only him who likes it being an open thing? Do you really think I'd let some guy just use me?" Mina retorted, with more fire than Lucy anticipated. She growled at her lighter which refused to light the cigarette dangling from her shiny, red lips. Really it was criminal how Mina's make up always managed to be perfectly done.

"I just think you deserve the best, and traditionally that has meant someone who is in love with you, and puts you before anyone else." Lucy sighed, snatching the lighter from Mina, and deftly lightly the cigarette for her.

"Yeah, well love is important. So is freedom. And I know that I'll never be satisfied with a traditional relationship." Mina looked at her with a strange intensity, "I don't think you would either. You have too much love to give."

Lucy bashfully looked away as the butterflies returned to her stomach.

"So what kind of club are you dragging me to if it isn't one of those creepy rich people cults?" Lucy asked in attempt to change subjects.

"Oh, I promise you, it is right up your alley. You'll love it. Heath is actually pretty interested in you. He said specifically that you should come." Mina smiled fondly as she passed the cigarette to Lucy.

"What? You've told him about me?"

"Of course! You're my like favorite person, loser."

At long last they pulled up to the school, and Mina cursed softly under her breath at how far back she had to park for their tardiness. Lucy took a long deep breath in an attempt to compose herself for the day. It worked, for the most part.

"Come on, Lucy! In only seven hours you'll be having the night of your life. Get hyped!" Mina grinned brightly at her.

Despite the storm cloud that plagued her mood, Mina's sunshine always peeked through. An evening escape to a mysterious party in Gotham sounded just like the distraction she needed.


	3. Party Girls Don't Get Hurt

Lucy frowned at her reflection and wondered if she would ever be as comfortable with her appearance as she was as a child. She had carefully outlined her vivid green eyes with a generous amount of black eyeliner (some would say too much), and her lips were painted with a dark purple that Mina had shoplifted for her ("Purple sure does suit you, babe"). It definitely made her look older, and maybe she could even pass for eighteen. She turned around in front of the full length mirror criticizing her whole body in her mind. She was short and woefully flat-chested, though in the past year she had started coming into her body, even going up a couple of cup sizes. Lucy's frown turned into a full blown grimace when her attention turned to everything below the waist. Frankly, her ass had no right being that big. Her thighs were cartoonish, and having been on the track team for a year made it so she couldn't even wear Mina's knee high boots anymore as the zipper refused to go up past her calves. She began to bend over with her rump high in the air to get a better look in the mirror when she heard a loud, rhythmic knock on her window.

"Holy fuck!" Lucy squeaked loudly as she gracelessly fell over. _Shit! Of course you got caught with your ass in the air like an idiot._

The knocking returned except now sporadic. Lucy let out a heavy sigh as she walked over to her window to see Mina blindly banging at the glass in the throes of full body laughter.

"Yes, yes. Fucking hilarious." Lucy hissed as she opened the window. Mina looked up at her with tear-filled eyes, and burst into hysteric giggles. Lucy couldn't help but crack a grin.

"Look, it's not just that I caught you checking out your ass. It's that I scared you so badly you fell down like like…like something that falls down." Mina managed between wheezes.

"Like something that falls down? Clearly Heath isn't into you for your sweet poetry skills." Lucy smirked. Mina simply laughed harder in response.

"Ugh, fuck you! This hurts!" She swore gasping for air.

"Well, look we've had so much fun already, why not we just stay here?" Lucy half-joked. All the elation and intrigue over this mystery party had soured into anxiety as she was getting ready. She had tried on at least half the different outfits in her closet, and started a detailed list of all the different ways tonight could go wrong. What if Mina drank too much, and bailed on her in her drunken stupor? What if she drank too much? What if they were both black out, shit faced drunk and some skeeve tried to take advantage of them? What if she broke the skeeves' nose and she got sued for assault? God, what if her aunt and uncle found out she snuck out? She did come home to food from her favorite Chinese restaurant, something her Uncle Scott always did out of silent apology, but her aunt had been uncharacteristically cold. She would barely even look at Lucy. Dinner was so quiet she could hear her uncle's fork scrape across his teeth. Uncle Scott had been awkward and quiet, but gave her goodnight kiss on the head. His temper ran hot, but rarely burnt for long: just destructive flashfires that left them both regretful and wondering when everything between them became so strained and difficult.

Mina's laughter stopped almost cold, and she looked at Lucy suddenly with an almost grimly, serious expression. She placed a hand on each of Lucy's shoulders, and looked her directly in the eye. Lucy could smell her perfume. Mina didn't look like her usual glamorous self, rather than the spontaneous Gotham gala she was always made up for; her appearance tonight was more suited to a costume party. Instead of her perfectly applied base and toner she wore white powder that made her look ghostly. Her iconic cat's eye eyeliner was swapped out for these black, vertical lines running straight down her eyes - eerily like those on a painted harlequin doll that Lucy always put in the punishment corner as a kid. Most startling, Mina's lips were drawn into a Cheshire grin in the boldest, scarlet red Lucy had ever seen her wear. She was beautiful of course; Lucy always thought Mina was gorgeous, but there was something alienating and surreal about the makeup. The red sequin dress she wore sparkled like a ruby, and generously displayed her long legs with a slit up to her hip. She even drew a little heart on her décolletage drawing the eye to the swell of her breasts.

"Lucy Arlekina Andrews, you are coming with me to Gotham City. You are going to have the time of your life. No, that's too simple, your life is going to be fundamentally changed. It's time to expand, sweetie. Say it with me: 'it's time to expand.'"

"Yeah, sure. Expanding." Lucy let out a deep breath as she broke the eye contact from this strange alternate universe Mina to the TV. She had left on the news as background noise. A panel of nicely dressed people seemed to be arguing about a tall man with olive skin and black hair whose picture took up the top left corner of the screen. She could tell just from his picture that the man had a distinct pair of cobalt blue eyes. They weren't the prettiest she had ever seen, but they came close. A sudden rush of memories of Robin flooded her like a punch in the gut. God, she hadn't see him since The Incident. Was he okay? She never heard about him in the news anymore, and she would do anything to just know he was safe.

"Hello, Earth to Lucy? Oooh, I'd be distracted by Damian Wayne too." Mina cooed jumping Lucy out of her thoughts.

"What, Damian Wayne? Like Bruce Wayne's son? He's just a kid." Lucy exclaimed, shocked. The last time she had heard anything about the philanthropist's son he was just a child no taller than his father's elbow. She can still remember how severe and adult he looked in his impeccable ash gray suit standing beside his father at the press conference where Bruce Wayne officially announced him as his heir to his company and fortune. Granted, she was even smaller at the time, barely in pre-school, and the memory was fuzzy at best. She hadn't really thought about Damian Wayne growing up too. Doing the math in her head she realized he must be in his early twenties.

"The passage of time comes for everyone, sweetie. But I agree puberty hit him like a goddamn freight truck. It's like discovering a child actor grew up to be hot." Mina grinned lasciviously. Lucy always thought Mina looked a little like a hungry cat staring down a canary when she smiled like that.

"That twinkle in your eye makes me suspect you may have met him in person."

"I have had the pleasure a couple of times. I don't really know him, though. He shook my hand and smiled at me. He has dimples, Lucy. Fucking dimples. Jesus Christ, he's even prettier than baby Bruce Wayne. And have you seen pictures of baby Bruce Wayne?" Mina fanned herself comically before giving Lucy a flirty wink, "But really you might give him a run for his money tonight. You look absolutely ravishing!"

Lucy's cheeks grew hot as she silently cursed the butterflies in her stomach and looked away from Mina's sweet honey eyes and pretty little Cheshire smirk. She gave one last look in the mirror smiling a little at her outfit. She's not sure she's ever been this fashionable with her black shorts, bright green crop top, well-loved combat boots, and shiny silver loop earrings. She even touched up her black nail polish. She usually didn't put in much more effort than a T-shirt and jeans since she was never satisfied with her appearance anyway. Lucy always figured she'd just wear something comfy if she couldn't be stylish, but today she had made an explicit promise to Mina that'd she try to look good for this mystery party.

"You're missing a couple of things though. Do you mind?" Mina asked with a mischievous glint in her eye, "I promise this will be fast."

Lucy nodded in agreement and Mina immediately ran for her drawers. She barely had to search through Lucy's messy drawer before she found a neon green tutu with a shriek of delight, and Lucy raised an incredulous eyebrow at her.

"What a tutu? Like who's going to take me seriously in a tutu?"

"I promise you Lucy this is perfect for where we're going. Trust me, okay? I just want to make you the babe you are, and I know the scene." Mina smiled encouragingly as she practically shoved the tutu onto Lucy, "Now do you have any glitter?"

Lucy anxiously checked her reflection in the car mirror. Lucy did admittedly have a certain taste for the dramatic; it's why she was drawn to heavy eyeliner, and the effect of bright colors popping against black. Mina took that to a brand new level. She had added glittery purple eyeshadow and gently brushed all of Lucy's exposed skin with a glitter coated make up brush. Lucy's stomach was still doing flips from Mina softly brushing her navel and thighs while smiling up at her with that cat-who-ate-the-canary grin, surreally enhanced by her harlequin lips. Mina even styled her hair into a teased, messy ponytail with a bright green ribbon tied into a large bow. ("Do you just carry this shit with you everywhere, Mina?")

"Oh, you look great. You'll blend in, but not too much. If you know what I mean." Mina reassured Lucy as she threw her a pack of cigarettes. "Just smoke and chill out. It's going to be incredible; I can't wait for you to see it."

Lucy smiled tentatively back at her and chuckled nervously. Despite her nerves, Lucy still managed to light her cancer stick with slightly shaky hands. She could feel herself steadying as she took an inhale and nicotine flooded her system. Uncle Scott would kick her ass if he knew she picked up the habit, but she can still remember Mina's confident smirk that hot afternoon when she first offered her one. The setting sun had framed Mina's head like a halo. She had smoked once or twice before in Gotham, and sure as hell didn't want to look lame in front of Mina. She flicked her ash out the window and stared at the neon of the city lights dancing on the black waters of the river.

"Hey Mina, could you roll down the sun roof?"

"Holy shit, yes! That's a great idea!" Mina exclaimed, "I'm totally turning up the radio too."

It was pretty warm for a September night so the night wind was more comfortable than the punishingly cold it usually was this time of year. Lucy slowly raised her arms in the air, and leaned her head back with her eyes closed as she embraced the lush wind. Her hair whipped around every direction tickling her cheeks and the back of her neck. Mina was belting along to the music, quite poorly actually, but it just made Lucy laugh. The sunroof down in a speeding vehicle was the closest she'd ever get to experiencing flight, short of her being rescued by Wonder Woman, like she used to daydream as a child. Hell, she'd even take some freak chemical accident giving her super powers, as long as one of them was flight. It was Lucy's fondest dream to be able to fly far away, and never look back on the bullshit behind her. Of course the feeling of flight didn't last as Mina wasn't too far from the turn off the freeway. However, Lucy noticed Mina took a different exit than the usual one she did when they escaped the suburbs to Gotham.

"Okay, don't freak, but we're going to be in the sketchier part of the city." Mina said briefly giving Lucy a nervous look.

"I don't mind. I know how to defend myself, and I did live in the city most of my life. Are you comfortable with being in this part of the city?"

"I mean…I'm not thrilled, but I understand why it's sort of in the abandoned part of the city." Mina murmured chewing on her lip, "Plus I have you to protect me, right?"

"Always." Lucy answered with an immediate passion that took her aback. She wasn't even sure she had known Mina a whole year, but she did know she would do anything for her.

Mina wasn't lying when she called this part of Gotham the "abandoned part of the city." It was literally a low income neighborhood that had been partially destroyed in some huge, devastating fight that the city never bothered to clean up. Lucy was a little distressed she couldn't even remember which huge fight destroyed it, because all these horrifying events had started to blend together in her memory. It was also so much easier not to think about when living in the suburbs. And Lucy would definitely take the chance not to think of the ashes of bodies and destroyed homes falling from the sky like snow, and how even the ground trembled with fear. That was one benefit to the suburbs that Lucy knew Mina couldn't understand. Mina never had to know that terror, and Lucy hoped she never would, even if Mina still insisted on her dream of sipping champagne in a big, bourgeois loft in the heart of Gotham. The rubble had been cleared from the streets long ago, but several of the taller buildings were only steel skeleton at the top. There were one or two buildings that were nothing but crumbled cement with long pieces of iron poking out. However, quite a few of the shorter buildings still looked intact so Lucy was pretty sure people were still squatting here as they were pushed out of their own gentrified homes.

Finally, they came to what looked like an abandoned theater. It was one of the taller buildings that still looked entirely intact, and something about that made Lucy smile. It was quite old, but still there, despite it all. Mina quickly parked on the curb, and Lucy made sure Mina locked it twice – Mina's sports car practically had a neon "rob me!" sign.

"Someone still might come by here and try to steal your parts. They could sell well enough for food…or booze…or crack." Lucy warned her.

"Oh, they wouldn't dare, but thanks for reminding me." Mina responded as she began to search through her red heart-shaped purse.

"Thank me for what?" Lucy asked with more frustration than she intended to give away in her tone. She was tired of the mystery, and it was starting to put her on edge. She bit her lip hard as she tried not to think about having another cigarette.

Mina let out a triumphant cry as she held up what she had been searching her bag so desperately for: a playing card. It was a wild card with the shadowed outline of a dancing jester. Lucy grimaced. While she wasn't afraid of clowns per se, they made her stomach turn, and she was starting to wonder if Mina was taking her to a clown club. Mina tucked the card in the windshield wiper and turned to Lucy striking a pose.

"Now, before I see my man, do I look good? The wind didn't completely fuck up my hair did it?" Mina asked running her fingers through her raven tresses. If anything, the wind had perfectly tousled her hair.

"You look great. Now come on, I can't take the anticipation much longer." Lucy smiled at her friend as she reached to take her hand. Mina interweaved her fingers with hers, and leaned down to touch foreheads with Lucy. In that moment it was just the two of them, and Lucy's heart felt like it was going to burst from her ribcage. Mina's long hair tickled her cheeks and she could smell her spearmint toothpaste. She opened her eyes slowly to look at Mina's harlequin smile. It was so close - if she just reached with her tiptoes she could capture Mina's lips with her own mouth. _Oh no God no,_ a voice whispered at the back of her head. Mina's painted smile had turned mocking and Lucy's heart dropped into this dreadful, sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. Instinctively, Lucy yanked away from Mina despite the little, almost cute noise of protest it elicited from the raven haired vixen. She dropped Mina's hand like it was a hot coal, and gestured towards the entrance as an invitation for Mina to lead. Mina's honey eyes vainly searched for Lucy's green ones, but she had already turned her back to her with her arms crossed.

"Well you are right. It's almost 9, and we don't want to miss the fun!" Mina said with some forced cheeriness as she began to walk to the entrance.

Lucy really wasn't sure what she was expecting when she stepped in, but it certainly wasn't…quite like this. The theater was obviously once quite opulent with its rich red velvet carpet, now filthy and wreaking of mildew, and the dust encased chandelier had been picked clean of its valuable crystals. The whole lobby was packed with colorful balloons sporting creative examples of crude profanity in ironically fancy fonts. Lucy instinctively reached for a shiny green one that had "Welcome to the motherfucking party!" written in sparkly gold and grinned like a fool. Beyond all the balloons, the walls were covered in scribbled graffiti, even over what were once priceless pieces of modern art, and especially on portraits of the various proud patrons of the theater. The graffiti was in bright pinks, neon greens, Technicolor purples, and a shade of yellow that made Lucy's eyes hurt. The graffiti ranged from comedically childish ("Sorry I fucked your mom, but she was begging for it!") to your usual rage against the machine kind of shit ("Fuck the police"), but quite a few were shockingly morbid like "why doesn't Superman just let us die?", "the pigs have grown fat on our suffering", "life didn't even wear a condom when it fucked me", and "this city is full of empty people." Scanning all of the graffiti felt like reading the intimate thoughts of this forgotten side of Gotham. And the forgotten side of Gotham also really liked drawing pictures of dicks, which Lucy felt she could get behind.

"You giggle like someone up to trouble." A voice tickled behind her ear. In one swift instinctive motion, Lucy turned around to push away the lurker in her personal space. A large, white gloved hand grabbed her wrist firmly before her fist could make impact.

"And who the fuck are you?" Lucy spat out. She looked up at the tall man, and was alarmed at how he immediately made eye contact with her. He was handsome, dangerously so, with dark gray eyes that sparkled with mischief. Bizarrely, he wore a large tophat, and a crimson ringmaster's outfit. The stranger dropped her wrist, and bowed deeply in greeting as he took off his tophat with flamboyant flair.

"No one as important as you, I assure you." He grinned up at her with a crooked smile, taking her hand in his delicately, "May I?"

"I…sure." Lucy responded, unable to keep the fluster out of her voice. _Jesus Christ, is this guy fucking for real?_

His lips barely brushed the back of her hand, but she felt as though she had been marked with a hot iron - the sensation of his hot lips radiated through her body and short circuited her brain.

"Sweet talker – you're a dangerous one." Lucy scolded with a haughty tone and narrowed eyes in an attempt to come off as stand-offish, and worldlier than her almost eighteen years.

"Now, what's wrong with a little danger? Isn't a little danger the most fun a person can have with their clothes on? We watch violent action flicks, brutal boxing matches, and bootlegged footage of super hero fights just to get a taste of it. Even further back, wasn't that the appeal of the circus? Men taming beasts that could devour their head with one mighty snap of their jaws. Queers juggling fire and knives? And my favorite: beautiful women dancing gracefully on that tightrope between glory and death. You think they did that just for pennies and the glee of strangers? No, they loved the danger." The stranger preached eagerly, as if he had just been waiting for her to challenge him, so he could evangelize about the virtue of danger. Lucy, however, was all too aware of the seductive appeal of danger – it's why Uncle Scott and Aunt Laura insisted on getting her out of Gotham.

"Circus performers probably loved the danger, but often they had nowhere better to go. They were outcasts and misfits. The ringleader objectified them; they were there for people to gawk at."

"Well, that's not the circus' fault. When society insists on a hierarchy everyone needs a place, and outcasts find their home among other outcasts." The stranger gave another crooked grin and ran his fingers through white blond hair, "It's the same now – are you not here for the circus?"

"The circus? Oh, is that why you're dressed like a dork? You know there's gonna be like twenty other assholes who think they're the boss dressed as the ringleader at this theme party." Lucy scoffed, ignoring how the dorky costume made him quite dashing.

"Oh no, little dove. They know I'm the boss." The man chuckled, "And who told you this was a theme party?"

"Uh, no one. I know it's a party that supposed to change my life forever or some exaggerated high school bullshit, and for some reason this fucking tutu is supposed to not make me look like a dumbass." Lucy squirmed at the sudden awareness that she was entirely out of her depth. She had no idea what the hell kind of party this actually was, and here's some too-sexy-for-his-own-damn-good-weirdo preaching about the wonders of the circus acting like he knows exactly what's going on.

"Ehh, it's sorta party, and it's all up to you if it changes your life." The man waved his hand dismssively, but he was still fucking smirking. He offered his hand again, "May I?"

"Y-yeah." Lucy nodded pressing her small hand into his long white fingers. He rose her hand above her head, and gentle spun her like a dancer.

"I don't know, I think that tutu looks awfully cute on you." The man's smirk melted into something of an earnest grin, "Though I don't think your much of a ballerina."

"You don't know anything about me." Lucy said quizzically.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. You can learn a lot about a person, if you're really looking, really listening." The man's tone had become softer, intimate.

"What have you learned about me?"

"Once you leave that cage of yours, you'll soar higher than any of us." The man almost whispered, brining shivers up her spine. His eyes were so fierce, so disarmingly earnest, that Lucy found herself unable to brush off his compliment as just a one-liner.

Lucy was silent for a moment, hardly more than a minute, but it felt like an eternity of locking eyes with the stranger. As soon as she found her voice, Mina came barreling into the side of the stranger.

"Heath! You met Lucy! Isn't she wonderful?" She squealed as she nuzzled into Heath's side, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.

Heath gave a small laugh, a high pitched bark of surprise, and wrapped his arms around Mina. She had never look so small to Lucy, Mina was quite tall and held herself like a queen, but Heath's presence and engulfing arms seemed to dwarf her.

"She's certainly something." Heath smirked while pecking a kiss to the top of Mina's head, "And you look absolutely ravishing, doll."

"I know!" Mina giggled confidently, " I had to make sure you had a pretty jewel on your arm, though I think Lucy could give me a run for my money."

Heath looked Lucy up and down with a heated gaze that made Lucy's ears burn.

"Definitely lovely, but I'm not sure she quite knows that yet." Heath replied giving a look to Mina that made them burst into mutual laughter.

"Hey! I'm standing right here you know!" Lucy scowled feeling left out of the joke, or worse the punchline.

Mina slipped out of Heath's arms and gently touched Lucy's face.

"Hey, we're not laughing at you, I promise." Mina soothed with a honey voice that was warm and seductive.

Lucy started to say something, but was silenced by Mina lips brushing against her own. It was brief, before Lucy's mind could register what was happening, Mina had broken the kiss and was taking her by the hand.

"Ready for the show?" Heath grinned devilishly as he stood at the door to the theater eager to usher the girls into his circus.


End file.
